Cliff Bleszinski's upcoming competitive shooter, LawBreakers, will no longer be free-to-play.
Speaking at GDC, the Gears of War creator told onlookers the game wouldn't be a retail release either, but would sit somewhere between the two models.
According to Bleszinski, as development progressed he became reluctant to commit to a free-to-play model because "a lot of core gamers still have this wincing reaction when you suggest that something's free-to-play. They feel like they're going to get ripped off."
As reported by Eurogamer, other members of the Boss Key dev team found that they were becoming too hung up on monetization, and had started to prioritize profits over quality.
"I think it took away from development," explained art director Tramell Isaac. "We ended up being focused on how to get money, as opposed to how to make a good game."
Bleszinski also revealed LawBreakers will be getting a new lick of paint to differentiate itself from other cartoon-style shooters such as Gearbox's Battleborn and Blizzard's Overwatch.
The new direction will apparently see LawBreakers adopt a more "mature" visual style.